For 60 years, Ellen Brotschol Noble thought she was an only child. Turns out, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

The letter arrived in February. Its opening line practically knocked Michelle Carlson off her feet.

“Hi Michelle,” it began. “You don’t know me, but I have good reason to believe we may be related.”

There was a name and phone number at the bottom. In her heart, the 63-year-old Carlson knew this wasn’t a scam or a mistake. This was a sister she never knew.

She dialed right away.

Waiting for her call was Ellen Brotschol Noble, a 61-year-old Union Beach resident who went through life thinking she was an only child. That changed in January, when the New Jersey Adoptees’ Birthright Act went into effect. Noble was able to acquire her original birth certificate for the first time. A subsequent Google search of her birth mother’s name yielded a 2010 obituary, which listed Old Bridge’s Carlson and three others as surviving children.

Sibling reunion: Standing from left, Jerry Dolese of West Orange, Bernadette Dunich of Sicklerville, Joseph Dolese of East Brunswick. Seated from left, Sherry Way of Lake Wales, FL, Ellen Brotschol Noble of Union Beach, Mary Rotondo of Blackwood, and Michelle Carlson of Old Bridge.(Photo: Keith Muccilli/Correspondent)

“I started shaking when I when I went to pick up the phone,” Noble said.

Over the next hour, Noble learned the startling truth: She actually has eight older siblings, all still alive, with five of them living in New Jersey.

“All my life I hated being an only child,” Noble said. “It was so unfair that I had to grow up alone and have nobody. I lost my (adoptive) mother at 24, and lost my father by the time I was 40, and all these folks were hanging out here and I had no idea.”

What happened next is the best possible advertisement for the new law.

Laura and Chris Tonra of Jackson hug their 5-year-old son, Skyler, one of 27 adoptions finalized and celebrated today, during National Adoption Month at Mancini Hall in the Ocean County library in Toms River, NJ Thursday, November 17, 2016.
Tanya Breen

Emma Michetti, 3, of Toms River, one of 27 adoptions finalized and celebrated today, poses for a photograph with her parents, Joseph Litrell and Katherine Michetti, during National Adoption Month at Mancini Hall in the Ocean County library in Toms River, NJ Thursday, November 17, 2016.
Tanya Breen

Nadia Duffield, 11, and Brandon Duffield, 16, two of 27 adoptions finalized and celebrated today, pose for a photograph with their father, Gary Duffield of Toms River, during National Adoption Month at Mancini Hall in the Ocean County library in Toms River, NJ Thursday, November 17, 2016.
Tanya Breen

Rafael Gatti, 6, and Blaize Gatti, 4, of Toms River, two of 27 adoptions finalized and celebrated today, pose for a photograph together during National Adoption Month at Mancini Hall in the Ocean County library in Toms River, NJ Thursday, November 17, 2016.
Tanya Breen

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'Together for life'

For years, Noble believed she was adopted because her natural mother died in childbirth. Only at age 25, when she went into labor with her first child, did her adoptive father tell her the truth (because he didn’t want her to be terrified about giving birth).

She didn’t hold it against him — “I loved my adoptive parents to pieces,” Noble said — but the curiosity burned inside. It never waned, even as she became a mother of two and later a grandmother.

The envelope and photo sent when Ellen Brotschol Noble first reached out to her sister, Michelle Carlson.(Photo: Michelle Carlson)

On the other side, her siblings had only the vaguest hint of her existence.

“When we were kids, we were in the basement snooping through file cabinets and we found a birth certificate with the name Toni Lynn,” Carlson said. “We asked my mother about it. I really don’t remember her answer, but I know my father got very angry and said to my mother, ‘I thought I told you to get rid of that thing.’ That was pretty much it. The conversation never came up again.”

After their initial meeting in March, Carlson went about introducing Ellen to the others (four of them are half-siblings, but they all remain close). She hosted a reunion in Old Bridge last month, and seven of the nine attended.

“It was just awesome,” Carlson said, fighting back tears. “I was so happy that she contacted us.”

Plans are in the works for Carlson and Noble to visit their other two siblings in Georgia.

“When you meet people my age, you’re very set in your ways,” Noble said. “You don’t bond easily with a lot of people in your 60s. So this is weird for me. This is instantaneous, like we’re going to be together for life.”

Ellen Noble (second from right) with four of her sisters in a July 23 reunion.(Photo: Michelle Carlson)

Advice for fellow adoptees

Ellen’s husband, Charlie Noble, reached out to the Asbury Park Press after reading about other connections forged by the adoption law.

“I thought it would be a great story,” he said. “You’re talking about 60 years and they didn’t even know she existed. And then she meets this big family she never even knew about?”

It’s a feel-good tale, for sure, but there’s a deeper point to be made. As Ellen wrote on her Facebook page, “For anyone out there who is on the fence about discovering their biological past, I say go for it.”

She understands the trepidation involved, especially for adoptive parents who might be concerned about another parent or two entering the picture.

“But for siblings? This has been the most amazing thing under the sun,” she said. “I feel so lucky. My one sister flew up from Florida, just so she could give me a real hug.”